Bombay Stores to double outlets

The first retail organization to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Bombay Stores,

plans to double its outlets in India by 2012-end. It has 16 outlets all over India and will scale it up to touch 30 by December 2012-end. At least 6 to 7 stores will be opened within this fiscal in places like Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. It is also looking at opening stores internationally in Europe and the Far East. The retailer is betting bigger on its online business as well. The company recently had a tie-up with a non-profit organization, Magic Bus, to introduce a range of merchandise.

Earlier known as Bombay Swadeshi Stores, it was launched in 1906 for setting standards for the swadeshi movement through an elegant, classy retail outlet. The combinations range from contemporary leather goods to exotic candles to herbal agarbattis to home décor and apparels. It specializes in home products like tableware and luxurious home decor items, pure authentic skin care and home fragrances, silver plated accessories and a stylized range of apparels based on natural hand woven fabrics, using traditional craft skills. The company is currently present in west and south India and is looking to expand in central and north India. It also plans to open a store at Delhi airport. It has two stores at Mumbai airport and two at the new airport in Hyderabad. Aided by the new store openings and expansion online, coupled with pickup in consumer spending, The Bombay Store is expecting a revenue growth of 35 per cent% year-on-year in the current fiscal. It posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 39.40 lakh in 2010-11 on net sales of Rs 27.69 crore. It had a loss of Rs 19.9 lakh in 2009-10.